“This is the story about the people behind the most important first battle for the future. When that revolution is won, we will look back to the fight against SOPA/PIPA the way Americans look back to the first shots at Lexington. Beautifully written, and powerfully compelling, this is a must read for anyone who wants a glimpse of where we are going.”

—Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School

“Edward Lee’s absorbing account is more than a story about the fight against unwise legislation; it is also a remarkable tale about new forms of political organization and how they can help keep the Internet free for everyone to use and enjoy.”

—Jack M. Balkin, Director, the Information Society Project at Yale Law School

The story of how people defeated SOPA and Hollywood to save the Internet--for now.

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

SOPA proposed to crack down on online piracy by giving the Attorney General the power to block people's access to "rogue" foreign websites through DNS blocking, a technique utilized by China's government.

Wikipedia blackout

January 18, 2012 was the biggest Internet protest in history, with over 115,000 sites blacking out their sites. SOPA was shelved two days later.

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)

ACTA was a controversial trade agreement negotiated by the U.S., EU, and other countries in secret. The Internet chapter required countries to implement greater enforcement against piracy online.

European street protests

Soon after the Wikipedia blackout, over 100,000 people marched in the streets of 250 cities in Europe to protest ACTA. The EU Parliament later rejected ACTA by a landslide vote of 478 against to 38 in favor.